About Boot Coffee Campus

Join expert instructors at the world-class BOOT COFFEE CAMPUS to earn your Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) certificates in coffee tasting, coffee roasting, green coffee buying, and barista skills – eventually leading the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma. SCA Coffee Skills Program courses provide the hands-on experience and knowledge to pursue a successful career in the specialty coffee industry. Willem Boot and lead trainer Marcus Young will personally share with you their extensive knowledge; from the intricate design of roasting profiles to roasting techniques of truly exotic coffees, like Willem’s award winning Geisha. Boot Coffee Campus Pathway courses provide solid hands-on training on a variety of equipment and offer many opportunities to taste coffees, develop sensory skills, and understand coffee contracts and processing. We allow for sufficient one-one-one interaction with the trainers, who have combined more than 30 years of expertise.

Our Team

Since I was 14 years old I have worked as a roaster, cupper, roastery owner and in 1998 I founded Boot Coffee. My mission: advising roasting companies and coffee producers on quality improvement strategies. Over the years we developed an impressive portfolio of clients, from super-quality specialty start-ups to renowned coffee producing countries. My passion: the Geisha coffee farms I started in Panama and Ethiopia and my quest to find the mother-source of Geisha in Ethiopia. I’m a licensed Q grader and Q Arabica instructor.

Willem Boot

Founder & CEO

My love of coffee began as a teenager while spending nights in coffee shops socializing and tasting coffee with friends. 18 years ago I became hooked on coffee. While working on a masters degree in education I also developed a passion for training. I have shared my experience as an SCA Certified Instructor, author of various coffee industry publications, I lectured about coffee, and volunteered as a world barista competition judge. My passion for tasting led me to earn my Q license, work as a barista, coffee importer and finally as a quality advisor helping Rwandan farmers bring their specialty coffee to market. I co-founded a micro-roastery, have sourced green coffees, and developed blends for major roasting companies.

Marcus Young

Campus Director and Senior Consultant Business Development

I am originally from Central Europe where I studied political science and worked with human rights in Slovakia and the former Yugoslavia. In 2001 I started Green Plantation Coffee, offering single origin coffee in Slovakia. For more than 15 years I have been working, living and writing about coffee. With the Boot team, I developed the first online coffee education project coffeecourses.com and in 2017 I co-founded Unleashed Coffee the real farm to consumer coffee company. As a thank you for everything I got from the coffee community I started Coffeeis.ME the podcast for coffee professionals.

Valerian Hrala

Consultant Communication & eLearning

I graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.S. in International Agricultural Development. My studies focused on plant science, soil science, and community development. My coffee career started at an early age working as a retail manager, lead barista and roasting specialist with companies like Verve and AKA Coffee. During my studies, I completed an internship at Finca Tamana and Finca El Suelo, El Pital, Colombia, working on soil reconstruction, compost building and studying the overall farm management. At Boot Coffee, I am responsible for product development and barista training programs. My passion is the education of aspiring coffee professionals and the creation of extraordinary profiles. I am fluent in Spanish.

Rosie Laird

Consultant Product Development | Barista Trainer

In 1997 a small group of coffee farmers in the Alto Mayo of Northern Perú asked me to assist in exporting their coffee. 20 years later I am the only person in my family of five without a Peruvian passport, and continue to strive to contribute to the economic development of Peruvian coffee farmers. I love Café Verde, our roaster retailer in Miraflores Lima and coffee farm in Moyobamba. I’m fortunate to have been able to work throughout Latin America, East Africa and Asia as a Q Instructor and specialty coffee export supply chain developer. Economic development on behalf of micro farmers remains my driving curiosity, and I’m thrilled to have encountered that quality coffee blended with quality people is the central answer.

K.C. O’Keefe

Senior Consultant Specialty Coffee Value Chains

I am an agronomy engineer with a specialization in business administration. Most of my life, I have been working in different segments of the coffee value chain; from farming to processing to roasting to barista preparation. Specifically, I have been focusing on the aspect of quality assurance at the farm and at the level of the roastery. It is my passion to share knowledge and to support the coffee industry in Colombia and beyond. I am the founder of the training laboratory and café Catación Publica in Bogota en the coffee brand Jaime Duque.

Jaime Duque

Senior Consultant Specialty Coffee Value Chains

While I have cherished coffee since high school, my career in coffee really started after graduate school when I took a job with Fair Trade USA. While there I delved into the meaning and significance of sustainability in the coffee industry, a call to action which remains a driving force for me today. As a lifelong chef and “man of the kitchen” my interest in coffee soon turned to quality, where I explored the magical transformation of the green coffee bean first as a home roaster and then as an apprentice. Since then I have had the pleasure of serving in various roles in the coffee industry, with small and large companies, growing, sourcing, blending, roasting and selling coffee to a wide variety of customers, all the while continuing to push the boundaries of quality and sustainability.

David Pohl

Senior Consultant International Trade & Quality

I started working at my family’s coffee farm (Finca Hartmann) at the age of 16. Since 2008, I have been working with Boot Coffee in Panama, managing the award winning Geisha farms Finca Sophia, Finca La Mula and the newly planted Finca La Cabra. In Panama I supervise a team of nine Ngobe-Bugle indigenous workers and a larger team of seasonal employees. I take personal pride in motivating my staff to take meticulous care of our precious Geisha trees. Farming at ultra high elevations (1700 to 2100 meters) is a challenging task, which -in the end- is rewarded through the quality in the cup. Over the years I developed a unique specialization in the cultivation of Geisha trees. My career highlights: winning the ultra challenging Best of Panama Competition with the natural process Finca La Mula in 2014 and the washed process Finca Sophia in 2017.

Kelly Hartmann

Coffee Farming Specialist

I started my coffee career at a young age. My initial coffee mentor was Jacob Boot, father of Willem Boot, who taught me about cupping and roasting techniques. For 11 years I have worked for The Golden Coffee Box, a small coffee importer and coffee roastery owned by Barend Boot (Willem’s brother). Over the past years I have worked as a trainer and consultant with roasting companies and upscale cafés throughout Europe. In 2017, I co-founded Café Keppler, a roastery café and and restaurant in the heart of Amsterdam.